The jury is still out, but Beckam, Morel, Sale, Reed, Axelrod and Hudson all are recent products of our system. Put them all back in AAA and our system looks much better.

__________________The universe is the practical joke of the General at the expense of the Particular, quoth Frater Perdurabo, and laughed. The disciples nearest him wept, seeing the Universal Sorrow. Others laughed, seeing the Universal Joke. Others wept. Others laughed. Others wept because they couldn't see the Joke, and others laughed lest they should be thought not to see the Joke. But though FRATER laughed openly, he wept secretly; and really he neither laughed nor wept. Nor did he mean what he said.

Reed is a fine prospect, but he's merely a reliever. After him, there is pretty much nothing. Callis isn't the only one noting the Sox having the worst system by far right now.

I know the Sox farm system needs work. I'm just not sold on how good the Cubs farm system is. Reed is almost certainly on the 2012 White Sox. Of the four Cubs prospects you mentioned, Jackson might be with the big club but that's about it and the jury is still out on how high a ceiling he might have. Reed could become a big league closer.

Aren't the Cubs rumored to be moving McNutt to Boston as compensation for Theo Epstein?

I know the Sox farm system needs work. I'm just not sold on how good the Cubs farm system is. Reed is almost certainly on the 2012 White Sox. Of the four Cubs prospects you mentioned, Jackson might be with the big club but that's about it and the jury is still out on how high a ceiling he might have. Reed could become a big league closer.

Aren't the Cubs rumored to be moving McNutt to Boston as compensation for Theo Epstein?

Who knows about the compensation to Boston. Selig might be stepping in on that. The Cubs farm system indeed had a down year this season, but it's still light years ahead of the Sox. Especially after spending $11 million on the 2011 draft. As far as Jackson, his ceiling with the Cubs is an above average regular that plays a fine CF. That positional value trumps any reliever easily. There's a reason top prospect lists aren't littered with relievers. They are largely fungible pieces. Not sure why we are comparing the two farm systems though. If we want to compare bad farms, the Marlins are probably second worst.

Dirty, speaking of the Marlins farm system..did you get a chance to watch Brad Hand pitch at all this year?

I played hockey with him as a kid, and played against him in baseball a few times throughout high school (he could absolutely rake). Pretty cool to see him pitch for the Marlins this season, but does he have a chance to be a legitimate major league starter? He had some good starts and some bad ones, but he also jumped from AA to the majors.

Dirty, speaking of the Marlins farm system..did you get a chance to watch Brad Hand pitch at all this year?

I played hockey with him as a kid, and played against him in baseball a few times throughout high school (he could absolutely rake). Pretty cool to see him pitch for the Marlins this season, but does he have a chance to be a legitimate major league starter? He had some good starts and some bad ones, but he also jumped from AA to the majors.

I don't know as much about the Marlins' farm as others, but in Sickels' 2011 preseason rankings, he was given a B- and was the organization's 5th best prospect. In his postseason list review John noted:

Quote:

3.81 ERA with 56/38 K/BB in 85 innings, 72 hits for Double-A Jacksonville. 4.08 ERA with 24/25 K/BB in 40 innings for the Marlins, 34 hits. Was rushed to the majors. Poor component ratios don't support the ERA and I think he needs more minor league time.